Remarks on the fluke (Fasciola heptica)

Abstract

These parasites are perfectly hermaphrodite. Their generative organs are well understood, and in proportion to the size of the animal, the extent and complication of these organs are astonishing. The male apparatus, the uterine cavity and oviduct, the yelk forming glands, occupy by far the greatest portion of the body. Siebold says, "the female apparatus of the trematodes consists of a germ forming organ (ovary), with its excretory duct ; then two others for forming the vitellus, which have also excretory ducts, and then a simple uterus with its vagina. The male apparatus consists of testicles with their excretory canals, an internal seminal vesicle, a cirrhus-sac, an external seminal vesicle, and a penis."